Looking for Humanure Composting opportunity in St Pete/Tampa Bay area, Florida

Hello,

I am looking for someone with a space and a consciousness to start a humanure compost bin like Joe Jenkins teaches. Very simple pallet bin with hay for bio-sponge/cover material. Everyone I have talked to in my area (St. Petersburg, FL) has been horrified and/or even offended by the idea, including my parents (the land I live on), and I don't own my own land or space where I could compost my humanure. None of the sites on Makesoil.org accept humanure. So this part of our lives collectively needs a lot of development. I am still in college. With nowhere to turn, I am reaching out here to see if there is anyone willing to host a small space so we can make compost instead of sewage.

Fun facts about St. Petersburg sewage treatment: St. Petersburg spilled nearly 200 million gallons of raw or partially treated sewage in Tampa Bay in 2015 and 2016.

Please message me if you live in the area and are open to making a difference.

Regards,

Yuri Couto

You might be able to get folks to agree if you tweak the system a bit.
Get a pallet tank/IBC tote. Then fill it with hay/woodchip/shaving/bark/etc.
At the bottom put a layer of gravel and nylon mesh to separate the gravel from hay.
Add red wrigglers to the tank, they will mix it for you. All you have to do is add hay/woodchip once every 6months.

With this system you can still use a flush toilet (regular/low-flow/vacuum assisted) and it can also handle your greywater too. The water that exits the system is just sent to a mulch pit like with a greywater system. In fact you can 'sell' this system as an advance septic system, with a 250gallon tank that settles/aerate/ckarify the waste, then removes the nitrogen, phosphates/etc. Instead of a reed bed/lagoon/drainfield you use fungi to absorb the minerals, and instead of bad microbes they are outcompeted by good ones and even actively eaten by mushrooms like oyster mushroom, all in a mulch pit. You dont have to empty the compost if you dont want to because it self-empties and the mushroom distributes the minerals for you and helps break down pharmaceuticals. http://www.vermicompostingtoilets.net/design-construction/

Yuri,

I can't help you at the moment, but I am trying to get a humanure collection service here in MN. I have a similar predicament as you. I rent, so I am forced to contribute to the very sewer system I despise. The main goal of this business will be to make humanure composting available to absolutely everyone, even if they live in an urban highrise apartment. For now, keep me on your radar. My email is humanurenow@gmail.com. If you want to get a little idea of what I am up to, check out my website at walking-the-walk.net. Great to hear I am not alone!

Is there an Environmental Sciences department or similar department at your college? If so, perhaps they'd be willing to take this on as a pilot project / research opportunity. Good luck and kudos to you for wanting to do this.

-- Jenny Nazak, Daytona Beach Permaculture Guild